ILLINOIS HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 325 



orchard, and field, and garden, will be the monuments of Van Mons, Landon, Knight, Lindley, Cox, 

 Buel, Downing, and their coworkers; while the names of Xerxes, Alexander, Cyrus, Caesar, Charle- 

 magne and Napoleon, will figure as mere myths of bygone barbarous ages. 



REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



The committee to whom was referred the President's annual address, beg leave to report, tliat the 

 following points require especial attention of the society: 



1. Publication of transactions of this Society. 



2. Vegetable garilens. 



3. Flowers. 



4. Interest of ladies in horticulture. 



5. Correction of names by presenting fruits during discussions. 



6. Timber and ornamental trees. 



* 



Motion passed to refer to Executive Committee, with autliority to act in regard to 

 publication of transactions in connection with State society, if favorable arrangements 

 can be made; if not, to publish independently . 



ESSAY ON BIRDS. BY J. HUGGINS. 



Birds, under the mission of Providence, like all other creatures, contribute their part toward the 

 harmony of creation. They are not sent into the world for notliing. Birds are ever around us— even 

 at this cold and wintry season of the year, when most species luive retired to the sunny south, a few 

 still remain to cheer our hearts and enliven our homes. But when the clouds of winter, and its low- 

 ering storms, have rolled themselves away, when the sun shines out witli renewed life and vigor, 

 when spring has come and summer is here, and the softened breath of heaven wafts from the llowery 

 fields and leafy woods a pleasing fragrance— it is then that we become most familiar with them. 



Anxious are we even now to hear the songoftlie Blue-bird, saying to us tliat " winter is broken." 

 But we wait patiently, knowing that as sure as the season rolls around that the Blue-bird will come 

 again, followed by the Robin and the Lark, witli thousands of lovely comrades fresli from their 

 winter haunts, to cheer us with their welcome presence and music, reminding us tliat "the time of 

 the singing of birds is come." Then may we be able to recognise in eacli a familiar friend, wlio is 

 ever ready to minister to our pleasure, either by cheering our solitary hours with a lively song, or 

 by abstracting our thoughts from tliis artificial world around us and turning them to the contempla- 

 tion of the wonderful works of an All-wise Providence. 



Comparatively few persons are aware of the pleasure to be derived by tlie early riser in listening 

 to the song of the birds, during the last months of spring and tlie summer months. Would you listen 

 to music sweeter far than that of a Jenny Llnd ? Do you love bird music? Then accept this, my 

 free and cordial invitation to visit " our home" during the month of June next, and you sliall have a 

 free ticket to my birds' concert. But bear in mind that my birds hold their concert in the early 

 morning, and if you are not an early riser you will not be dressed and ready. Our bird concert is 

 repeated daily if the weather permits, and the performance invariably commences just as the first ray 

 of light is seen in the east; and if you would be present at the opening you sliould be in your seats 

 before four o'clock. Listen to the first notes of those birds in the distance— and now otliers join in, 

 until the whole orchestra is engaged, and the air is full of bird music, soft and sweet, bidding us cast 

 aside our griefs and be as happy as they: saying that the skies are bright and the sun ever sliiuing, 

 notwithstanding clouds may obstruct them from our view. 



For me there is great pleasure derived from a morning ramble through my grounds, for the purpose 

 of observing the habits of the birds. There is real enjoyment in watching their incessant activity— 

 the beauty and singular ease of their motions; to trace the gaudy colors in which some are clothed, 

 and the plainer dress of others; to examine the beautiful and delicate structure oj their nests, and 

 above all to listen to the sweet and mellow cadences of their many-toned voices. Time thus spent, 

 so it seems to me, can hardly have any other than a happy effect. One of the sweetest as well as the 

 most familiar bird notes Is that of the Blue-bird. Soon as the first breath of spring offers him an 

 inducement to remain with us, he is seen cheerily about the farm-house, and along the fence utter- 

 ing his soft and plaintive warble with a degree of innocence which no sensitive heart could fail to 

 appreciate. For his accommodation I put up boxes through my orcliard, where he rears his young, 

 watches carefully over the interests of my orchard and garden, and many a noxious insect is des- 

 troyed by him for the benefit of his hungry little ones. Soon after the Blue-bird, to cheer our hearts 

 at the approach of spring, comes the Pewee, Fly-catcher. The song of the Pewee is a sure and 

 reliable prognostic of the coming of that lovely season when the earth clothes herself in green, and 

 the air resounds with nature's sweetest music. "We encourage the Pewee to come around our home, 



